2012-07-26

This demo -- from Pattie Maes' lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry -- was the buzz of TED. It's a wearable device with a projector that paves the way for profound interaction with our environment. Imagine "Minority Report" and then some.

At the MIT Media Lab's new Fluid Interfaces Group, Pattie Maes researches the tools we use to work with information and connect with one another.

Ramesh Raskar presents femto-photography, a new type of imaging so fast it visualizes the world one trillion frames per second, so detailed itshows light itself in motion. This technology may someday be used to build cameras that can look “around” corners or see inside the body without X-rays.

Photography is about creatingimages by recording light. Ramesh Raskar has invented a camera that can photograph light itself as it moves at, well, the speed of light.

Enhancing Sweden’s image involves creating a clear position for Sweden internationally – a unique place in people’s conscience that distinguishes Sweden from other countries. In order to be clearer, we must find common denominators for Swedish phenomena, and also dare to set priorities among all the associations people make with Sweden. The leading Swedish agencies dealing with “Sweden” – the Swedish Trade Council, Visit Sweden, Invest in Sweden Agency and the Swedish Institute – have together established a mutual brand platform, which places the word “progressive” in the center with four core values around it:

To elaborate, four words represent these core values: Innovative means new ways of thinking. Seeing things from a new perspective. Seeing opportunities and solutions and having faith in a better future. Not allowing oneself to be limited by engrained opinions or traditions. Open means having a positive attitude toward free thinking and to differences between people, cultures and lifestyles. It involves being curious and sensitive to others as well as giving people space and creating exchanges; space for the ideas and views of individuals, as well as physical space to move freely without obstacles, fences or crowding in our readily accessible countryside, cities and places in between.

Caring means safeguarding every individual. Providing safety and security as well as respecting and including all people. It means feeling empathy and sharing with those who are most vulnerable; becoming involved with others and trying to see to the needs of every individual. Authentic means being natural and unaffected. It means being reliable, honest and informal. It also involves being straightforward, unpretentious and clear, as well as standing up for one’s values even when it is not very comfortable. To be authentic means to be in touch with your past and your roots and open to the future.

This might not entirely unique, but the combination says a lot about Sweden and is validated in research as values that people from other countries also associate with Sweden.